JERUSALEM—Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party finished second in Tuesday’s elections with 33 seats, according to exit poll published by Channel 12. Blue and White took 37 seats, The Jerusalem Post reported.
However, according to the exit poll published by Channel 13 at the same time, both parties took 36 seats.
The Blue and White party has been Netanyahu’s main challenger since Gantz joined forces with Yair Lapid‘s Yesh Atid in February.
Based on Channel 12, Israel would be looking at a 60-seat right-wing bloc and a 60-seat left-wing bloc. However, according to 13, the right-wing bloc would be 66 seats and the left-wing 54.
According to the Channel 12 poll, the Labor party was a distant third, earning 6 seats, exit polls showed. While the party began the election campaign as Israel’s second-largest bloc as part of the Zionist Union, a hostile split with the Hatnua faction on New Year’s Day left the party trailing Blue and White.
Smaller parties were the story of the election. According to Channel 12:
Moshe Feiglin’s Zehut party did not cross the threshold, after jumping to national attention on a campaign centered on cannabis legalization.
Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked’s New Right Party did not pass the threshold. However, latest reports show that the party needs less than 1,000 votes to gain seats in the next Knesset.
The haredi (ultra-Orthodox) United Torah Judaism party garnered 7 seats, while the Arab party Hadash-Ta’al received 6 seats.
The left-wing Meretz party was given 5 seats while the Union of Right Wing Parties, which includes the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, had 5 seats.
Shas earned 6 seats and the Arab list of Ra’am-Balad has 5 seats.
Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu earned 5 seats, Moshe Kahlon’s Kulanu earned 4 seats, and Orly Levy-Abecassis’s Gesher Party earned did not cross the threshold.